‘Film franchise featuring Facehuggers’ NYT Mini Crossword puzzle clue answer and hints

Have you ever watched a film where extraterrestrials with a hostile agenda take over? Today’s NYT Mini Crossword clue, “Film franchise featuring Facehuggers,” asks you to name an iconic film where humanity is under a foreign threat.

If you need help figuring out today’s NYT Mini Crossword, you can use our hints and answers to help you crack the puzzle. 

‘Film franchise featuring Facehuggers’ NYT Sept. 30 Mini Crossword hints and answer

• Hint 1: The answer is a franchise that started with a 1979 film about creatures called the Xenomorph. 
• Hint 2: The five-letter word is what you’d call the people controlling UFOs.
• Hint 3: It starts with the letter “A.”
• Hint 4: The solution is the name of a film that won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects because of its groundbreaking creature design, models, and atmospheric effects.

Let’s jump in and reveal the answer.

The answer to five across in the Sept. 30 New York Times Mini Crossword is “ALIEN.” In the Alien franchise, the Facehuggers are part of the life cycle of the Xenomorph, an iconic alien species in cinema. These creatures attach themselves to the faces of humans or other living beings, implanting embryos inside their hosts. The embryos then develop into the Xenomorphs, parasitic extraterrestrial species central to the series. 

‘Film franchise featuring Facehuggers’ NYT Mini Crossword difficulty rating

The Alien franchise is one of the most popular film series of all time, and the work they did back in the 1970s is still considered one of the finest sci-fi films. If you are someone like me who loves watching sci-fi and horror films, the answer is really easy to guess. However, as it’s quite an old film term, a term like Facehuggers is easy to forget, making it a bit more difficult than other clues. So, I’d give it a three out of five for difficulty.

NYT Mini Crossword (Sept. 30) answers

Across

• 1A What Jacuzzis, airports, and the N.F.L all have in common — JETS
• 5A Film franchise featuring Facehuggers — ALIEN
• 7A Use a loom — WEAVE
• 8A Threaded fastener — SCREW
• 9A Gets kissed by the sun — TANS

Down

• 1D Film that was the highest-grossing of all time before “Star Wars” was released — JAWS
• 2D Vote into office — ELECT
• 3D Headwear at a pageant — TIARA
• 4D Number used to spell “L” on a calculator — SEVEN
• 6D “I want the _____, not the weather” — NEWS

How to play other word games like the NYT Mini Crossword

If the NYT Mini Crossword word games are repetitive, you can explore the LA Times or Washington Post. If you’re looking for something new, you can test your vocabulary with Strands and Spelling Bee. There’s plenty of options.